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31 March 2010

Chef Advice. On 'Giving Notice.'

Quitting a cooking job right has to be one of the most talked about subjects amongst cooks. Everyone wants to know how to do it right. And few people give, or take, notice of resignation well. Most cooks know that to give 2 weeks notice today is to have one's last day today. Most chefs know that to receive a 2 week's notice today is to have a good-for-nothing-'senioritis' cook for the next two weeks.

Giving notice right often appears to be more elusive than bankers showing personal responsibility for their actions. And, yet, is is possible. But you have to be prepared, intuitive, professional and treat the person/kitchen/establishment with as much integrity as you wish for others to treat you.

If you are not management, always give two weeks, at least. If you think the chef will fire you on the spot ask for your paycheck. In the USA you must be given your final check on the day you are fired. For every day you have to wait for your check your employer must pay you, whether you have worked or not. Knowing your State, City & Federal rights IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY. If you think your chef is going to fire you on the day you give notice make sure you can afford it to give notice on that date.

If you want to give a proper notice and do not wish to be fired on the day you give notice, promise your chef that you will work every day you're scheduled harder than you have up until now.

Work hard to make the kitchen miss you and wish you were not leaving, before you give notice.

In the USA is is illegal for an employer to give you a malicious reference. The worst reference an old employer can give a prospective new employer is no reference at all.

But,

you know what?

Chefs are notoriously as club-ish as cops. If you have upset one chef in your city, chances are said chef will spread the word not to hire you. Yes, it does happen.

As I've said, many times before, a cook's world is small. Travel thousands of miles and you might work with someone you met already. Piss off a cook yesterday and tomorrow they could be your chef, or worse yet, your sous chef.

You think you're no one. You think no one notices. But chefs talk. They trade players or steal like baseball teams. Your chef, your pastry chef, sometimes a whole kitchen full of cooks, will be courted, will be swooned, will be stolen.

Give your notice with aplomb. Play your cards right.

Always play your cards professionally.

Even if your chef is a hack and the line is a bunch of shoemakers. Even if the owners of your restaurant are absent or drunk or appear to have no idea what it takes to build a successful restaurant.

Being professional when giving notice includes some, if not all, of these pointers ~

Write a letter of resignation. This is a letter, not a sentence. Write it like a real letter not a text or an email. Date it. Spell everything & everyone correctly. Say something about what you learned. Give your final day as a full date. ie: "I should like to work on and up until Saturday May 1st, 2010." Hand sign the letter. Put it in an envelope.

Print and hand deliver, do not email, your letter of resignation.

Give notice on a day or during an hour when you can have a few private minutes with your chef. Even if this means asking for that 'date' a number of days in advance.

Do not give notice in front of any of your co-workers. This will be seen as quitting and you surely will not get a good reference, or be able to place said job on your resume, if you quit.

In your letter of resignation say what you learned and why you're moving on.

Give 2 weeks even if you have only been at a job for 2 weeks.

Stay calm and collected no matter how your chef is reacting.

Do not stoop to insults. Do not cast aspersions. Do not place blame on others. Think about omitting the word 'you' from the beginning of your sentences and instead speak from an "I" perspective.

Stay positive. Really. In lieu of however your chef/owners are treating you in your resignation meeting, stay composed. People will remember that you remained professional. Even after they have calmed down. Freak out later in the bar or with your lover or to your friends, but remain clear and determined and calm with your boss[es].

Remember that you are not responsible for how your notice is taken but it helps to be compassionate/empathetic. It helps to see how your giving notice may look to your chef/team/house. Everyone takes departure differently. Know that those last two weeks will be hard and very very different.

Leave on a good note. Leave your station/partner better than what you came into.

If you have been in a kitchen for a long time, thank each cook/sous personally & privately. Even if it sounds sappy, people remember that shit. Many of us feel like we're in a thankless profession & getting a 'thanks, you taught me a lot' gets remembered.

If you are a chef, meaning you have a management role, your notice should be far more than 2 weeks. The longest notice I ever heard of was Eric Ziebold, who gave Thomas Keller a 4 year notice when he left The French Laundry to work in Washington DC. I gave Elizabeth Falkner a month's notice after working as her pastry chef at Citizen Cake for 2 years.

In the years since September 11, 2001 & this new economic downturn, giving notice has taken on new meaning. Few cooks & chefs are given the chance to do so before they are laid off or show up to see a city padlock on their kitchen. How owners and chefs give notice to their employees ranges from months and months notice to less than an hour.

It's a precarious business we're in. While people have to eat, they do not have to eat in restaurants or hotels or on cruise ships or hire caterers.

The restaurant where I work now has recently placed an ad on Craigslist for cooks. In the resumes we have perused so far, it's obvious times have changed radically. It used to be you could not put the name of a place you worked on your resume unless you had been there at least 6 months.

Now you're lucky if you see 3 months of continuous employment on someone's resume.

But I'll say it again.Treat your employer, your chef, as you wish to be treated. If that job has meant the world to you. If your chef is better than you ever thought she'd be. If your fellow cooks took time with you. If your sous taught you more than you ever thought you could learn in one span of time.If you mentored, made a difference, came early & stayed late, took a leadership position before one was given to you, loved every menu change, didn't just complain but worked on solutions, were proud to say your worked at that restaurant, woke up {almost} every day excited to work, can say those dishes you made were spot on, called a station Yours, pushed yourself out of your comfort zone, got buried in the weeds every service and helped those around you finding their way through the bogs too, you can barely say all your learned because it overwhelms you--

If

you can't believe you're leaving a restaurant, a chef, a sous chef

you have fallen in love with.

Treat those people, and yourself, with respect, integrity & professionalism.

Because in your next job you'll be working as many hours as you were working here, and it's easier to lose touch than stay connected.

And because

you never know all you've learneduntil you leave. until that job has become a dot in your rearview mirror.

I can't tell you how many times I've gotten jobs from connections I made in previous kitchens. Or with cooks I've worked with. Almost all, in fact.

Where I work now, for example. Gina dePalma, Babbo's everlasting pastry chef, was someone who kicked my ass to hell and back at Gramercy Tavern many many years ago, started asking around New York to see if anyone needed a pastry chef, when I was coming here from London last November. Jonnatan Leiva responded and then called Mourad Lahlou, a close friend to us both, to cross check me. It was on these two amazing chef's high recommendations that I landed in an execugtive role almost immediately after landing in New York City.

If you want to be treated with integrity, act with integrity. Even in the face of anarchistic unprofessionalism, that this industry is wont to display, at least recently, do it the old fashioned way.

you can think you know a chef, you can think you love a chef enough, you can think you have learned all you can learn in a chef's kitchen

until you give notice.

and you both cry. and you both reach for the others' hand. and you exchange thank yous that reach into the very core of who you are.and you are stunned by your chef's grace. and you realize in that moment you know nothing. and you know that knowing nothing means the most incredible journey ahead, not leaping off a bridge. and you feel goosebumps borne of honor. and you feel graced to have been allowed a position in his kitchen. and you both want everything for the other, the way the best, most unselfish love feels. and you know you will hate every minute that ticks away your time left in that chef's kitchen. and you know that you will be his friend forever. and he, yours. equally and without condition.

Comments

Shuna--this is stellar advice. And not just for the restaurant industry--great advice for all industries across the board. I asked someone who was leaving a company on good terms (a company where it was NOTORIOUSLY difficult to leave on good terms because the management took each resignation personally) for advice on how to leave on a good note. He said to me, "Always leave for a better opportunity. And work harder your last two weeks than you did your first two weeks."

My friend Sharon is an ex-pastry chef, who now lives in Rochester. She comes to NYC for a week once a month. I have been waiting for her to go to 10 Downing Street because I know she will appreciate it. This month her trip was messed up, but we will surely make it in April.

I wil be honored to eat where you work. If your dessert moves me as much as your writing does, I will be more than well-fed; I will be transported.

Excellent advice Shuna, especially in this day and age of high speed technology, trunkated conversations, and rampant irresponsibility. I am forwarding this link to my two kids in college. I know it will make an impression!

Well said. I have seen a number of cases of people "burning their bridges while still standing on them" in industries that are less networked than professional kitchens. Always leave with dignity and grace, regardless of how you think you were treated while there. The best recent example of this is Conan O'brian. Even though he got shabby treatment from NBC on the tonight show, he left gracefully and will benefit from his poise when he appears on another network.

"you never know all you've learned
until you leave.
until that job has become a dot in your rearview mirror."
This quote really got me (I mean choked up got me). It's true whether you leave by choice or because business slowed down and they couldn't a pastry assistant any longer. I walked out very angry, hurt, and resentful, but now very grateful for all the knowledge that was passed on to me without my knowing it. Thanks for your post. I wish you continued success.